4th of July Edition

As you can see our last post was over 3 months ago at the end of March.  The poor little Pineapple has been feeling neglected, as day to day life issues have gotten in the way of weekend jaunts.

Even before we went to Tallahassee, I had lucked into 3 nights (Thurs-Sat nites) at Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys.   It's a tough park to get a reservation as it usually fills up as soon as days become available.  That is not this trip, you will have to come back next month as it'll be in the middle of August, when Florida is at its HOTTEST. 

So why mention it now?  About 2 weeks ago, I thought, "Hey we have a long weekend coming up with the 4th (I took Friday off), so let's make a quick run up to Hobe Sound and go to Jonathan Dickinson State Park for a couple nights."   So off I go and get the LAST available site for Friday the 5th and Sat the 6th.   Thought about the 4th, bt figured, it's an easy bike ride from our house to the beach to see fireworks, so we can just go on Fri & Sat.  As it turned out, there were no sites available for all 3 nights, but we could have moved, so that helped my decision.

Well the last site, was a handicap site, so it was completely paved which at first glance I figured is fine, no sand getting tracked into the coach.  For the most part it was fine, except for the fire 'ring' but I'm getting ahead of myself.

For the most part, getting ready was fairly straight forward and we were out the door, just before noon.   A planned stop for gas and supplies and we were on our way.  When filling up, I was a little slow and the tank 'burped', so a cupful of gas ran down the side.  No biggie, wipe it off and we are on our way.  At some point on the ride we were stopped at a light and I noticed a raw gas smell.  I blew it off as the system had burped and the fill tube is right next to my window.

We arrived and got set up on our spot.

You can see all the paved space we have to work with and wheelchair friendly walkway right to the bathroom/shower area (we still don't have a working shower).

Wall to wall sunshine and not a shade tree in sight (well there is a Seagrape off the to left that did offer a late afternoon respite for a chair, but no shade for the coach.   When we pulled in the cabin was a toasty 95 (as was the outside temp) and first thing I did was plug in and crank the AC on high.

You can already see the condensation puddle starting at the rear corner of the coach in the photo above.  The AC was working hard, and there was a nice seabreeze (fairly brisk actually).  I ate lunch and pulled out the pop up canopy and we set it up over the picnic table.  Even with 10lb weights on each corner the wind was making it skid across the smooth concrete pad.  We got it dialed in and it was actually quite pleasant under its shade.

I grabbed a book I just received and started to read while enjoying a cold beverage.  After 60 pages or so, I went back into the coach to check on the girls.  The coach was still about 85 degrees inside and the puddle outside had grown a bit.  I was concerned that the AC might be giving up the ghost, but the sun was BAKING, and it was chugging along the best it could.

Finally around 4:30 or so, the sun dipped behind a thunderstorm to the west and as soon as it did, the coach temp starting dropping like a rock.  I had the thermostat set around 72 and it got there but not until after dark.

Time for Dinner!   We got some really nice fat shrimp as they are easy to grill up.

So back to the fire 'ring'.  Yes it's round, but it was more like a trash can fire, lol.  The ring was probably about 30 inches tall so someone in a wheel chair could cook on it without having to lean too far forward.   This presented some pros and cons.

Pros:  Being deep, it is a windbreak, and was easy to get the fire started.  A few pieces of thin pallet pine, and a handful of crushed sea grape leaves and I was in business.

Cons:  The grille is 30 inches off the ground, so I needed a hot fire.

The Pine burns fast and hot which is good to build up a bed of coals (no one wants Pine Kissed Shrimp, BTDT, check out the JDSP blog entry from last summer).  I then threw a few pieces of a low resin hardwood (not oak, but burns the same way).

Here is the shrimp, right after I threw them on.   A little manipulation was involved, but it ended up being a good cooking fire, just took a little longer due to the height of the grill.

It was delicious and while eating it was dusk so my daughter took the time to cover herself in bug spray and then go into the coach to eat...  I did neither as the breeze kept them off of me.

I wanted to have a fire but the ring was so high, even a good fire was hard to see over the top so I decided to save the wood for another day....

After dinner bike ride with my kiddo, we rode about a mile or two over to Hobe Mountain.  Not really a mountain, but as you can see it is the natural highpoint in all of Southern Florida.  The tower is  another 27 feet on top of the dune, and it gives a commanding view all around.  As it was the 5th, we could not only see the lightning to the west, but also lot's of leftover fireworks being launched miles away.  We stayed for about half an hour and watched the dying twilight disappear and the stars light up the sky.   It's not as dark as it used to be, but you can still see pretty well compared to my house.

We peddled back and then it was Lucy's turn to go over to the mountain.   Naya decided she didn't wan to bring a bike, so I told her she had to go back with her Mom.  While they were gone, I got the coach in full Lounge mode, with Martin Denny's Quite Village.

The Stuffies loved it and Orange Bird ordered a round of Mai Tais for everyone.  Needless to say we were enjoying ourselves.

After the Lounge Party, things winded down as we had to pull up stakes and drive Naya over to I95 to meet up with her ride to Tallahassee where she is doing a week long band camp.

Up at sunrise, I took a little walk around and got this nice shot of the sunrise.  Unfortunately, the color got a little washed out in this exposure as the purple and orange was more pronounced in person.

We got the call that her ride was on the way, and within minutes we were rolling out for the 20 min drive to go meet up.   Had great plans to take a boat ride up to Trapper Nelson's and have a picnic lunch after dropping her off.  On the way there I had to stop quickly at a light and I smelled gas again.   Again I sort of figured, maybe it sloshed from the hard stop.

A couple of min later we pulled up to the meeting spot and got out.  It was raining.  As soon as I was out of the coach we all smelled the gas.  I carried her bag to the other car and on the way could see gas in the water on the ground (the shiny rainbow look).  I got her loaded and immediately started checking hose connections near the fuel pump.

You may or may not recall, I upgraded to a Fuel Injection system when the engine was rebuilt.  The fuel pump rides on the outside rail of the frame for easy access.  I checked there first and it was all good.  I poked around for a minute and didn't see anything.  I turned the key on (primes the fuel system to pressure) and still didn't see anything.   I started the engine.  I saw a waterfall.   Immediately shut it down and got under where I saw the leak.

Mind you it is still raining and the ground is all wet so I didn't think much of laying down on the ground and getting wet.   I found a loose clamp on the fill tube and figured that it was an easy fix (later realizing that this hose is never under pressure) and got it tightened up.   I then had Lucy twist the key while I watched and of course it still leaked, but it was right there where the loose clamp was.

Still not thinking of the pressure being a factor, I thought the hose was cut or something.....More poking around and wiping with a rag and AHA, I find the culprit.  A piece of 3/8 fuel line has a split in it.  But.....it is right where the hose goes in between a metal tube and the tank and no way to put  a clamp there (or cut it to put in a connector).... 

It's 1.1 miles to a Home Depot and there is a Pep Boys next to it, so I head off down the road.  It's now been about half an hour since I first laid down in the puddle......of gas.  I have been getting gasoline all over me for at least 40 years and had no idea you can get a chemical burn from it.  I know now.   As I walked a section of my right arm started to burn from the edge of my T-shirt down past my elbow.   By the time I got back about an hour later my arm felt like it was on fire and no amount of soap and water was helping......

But back to my story.   I realized on my walk it was the return line leaking.  I a pressurized fuel injection system there are two fuel lines.  A feed and a return for the unused gas.  Basically in order to keep a constant pressure more gas than needed has to be sent to the engine and it just uses what it needs.  The rest goes back to the tank....or the ground in this case.    In any event, I wasn't going to make it the 40 miles back to my house with the rate I was losing gas overboard.

I called a few friends on my hike and formulated a plan that was completely different that the one I had when I started walking.   I bought twice as much fuel line as I thought I'd need (turns out it was exactly the length I needed!) at Pep Boys.  They didn't have the proper brass connectors I needed so off another block to Home Depot.  THEY didn't have them either......CRAP!!!!

So while waiting for sales help I looked at their website and they listed a kit for Air Compressors, that had what I needed and more.   I went to that aisle and bought two (needed one) just in case.

Now the walk back and it's raining the whole way, my arm is on fire, and oh btw I didn't mention I wasn't feeling great to begin with....

The coach has two tanks and since it was the return line, I scavenged the front tank's (where the return was going) vent line.  I connected that to my new line and them up to where the broken line tied into the one coming back from the engine.   WOOHOO, it worked.  It is temporary and I need to drop my tank to properly replace the hose as without a vent, it is going to be difficult to fill the tanks up.

All this only took about 4.5 hours, so no boat ride, no picnic.  I thought about just going home at this point, but as we had only planned for being gone less than an hour, we left our bikes and the pop up tent at the site.  Once back, I figured we may as well stay as we are here and it's paid for.   Instead we just lounged around the rest of the day until dinner time.

 We put up our 'night light' which is plenty bright enough use as a light to eat by.   With my burnt arm, building a fire was out of the question, so we just grilled on a gas stove and had a nice romantic dinner for two, and that was the whole evening....

 This morning we went down to the visitor center to see JD the Pine Snake.  He has been there a few years and my how he has grown.   I'd say 5.5 feet or so from the looks of him and he was quite active as he just shed his skin.

On the way out, I stopped so Lucy could take a picture of a gopher tortoise and saw this shot.  Hobe Mountain is actually pretty close and just behind the shot to the left.  This one gives you an idea of the ancient dunes in the area.

The ride home was uneventful, and the coach ran great.